I sent in my 744 which needed new TA3 input jacks, new TOD battery holder, and new keypad. The bench fee of $295 is standard. If the repairs are minor/low dollar parts, it can seem steep. However, it will be to factory spec when you get it back. They will itemize the parts list. And it will likely be a long time before it needs attention again.

I will be receiving a 744T shortly (bought through here), and contacted Sound Devices about its history and asked about costs if I were to send it in for a general check-up. I was told it would cost $300/flat fee and to set a cap for repairs because I would be charged for all parts + shipping in addition to the $300. They suggested a $500 cap. Assuming there were no repairs necessary, they would bring it up to current factory specs and only charge me the $300 flat fee + return shipping. So yeah, I'd say it's a steep price for a minor repair!

Very happy with my unit but beware they will wipe the drive clean and all settings go back to factory presets...which I discovered at Bob Weir show...I had my levels/ balance knobs linked pre-repair...fortunately I realized quickly what was up with no effect to recording...

The bench fee for Sound Devices used to be ~$100. This was around 2011-2012. In just five short years, they have nearly tripled their bench fee. My personal view is that it is on par with Sound Devices declining customer service and support... for which I could write a novel.

If you are using a 7xx recorder and do not have a dedicated SD card with your profile settings, you are asking for trouble. I have documented my process for this before (here), but in a nutshell find an old SD card that is no longer useful (1gb, 2gb, 4gb cards, etc. are excellent candidates), save your profile to that card, then stick a label on it and tuck it safely into the gear bag. It's way too easy to accidentally reset all settings to factory default (you can do this simply by hitting the "yes" button twice too fast while opening the menu) and it can take 10-20 minutes to reset everything by hand, assuming one can even remember all the settings they need to work through. In an emergency, you can quickly pop-in your backup SD card and restore all profile settings in seconds.

Thank you for this most excellent suggestion! I have restored factory default already, and learned the hard way how much it sucks. Can you please detail how to do this (both save our settings to the card as well as restore them if necessary).

Thank you for this most excellent suggestion! I have restored factory default already, and learned the hard way how much it sucks. Can you please detail how to do this (both save our settings to the card as well as restore them if necessary).

It's all under the first menu option. You can save settings to any connected media (internal hdd, CF slot, or external hdd).